Glass Water and Toddlers Do Not Mix

(July 25, 2013)

Town councillors in Warminster were first on the scene from their mid-day sojourn at the town park refreshment hut on Saturday to deal with an 'out of hours' report of broken glass in the popular 'dolphin' paddling pool.

The Lakeside Pleasure Grounds at Weymouth Street briefly turned into a danger for the toddlers that were enjoying the hottest day of the summer.

"We overheard that a jam jar had been thrown into the water and had been broken into pieces that had cut a child," said Cllr. Nick Dombkowski.

"A public spritied mum had picked up the biggest pieces and was looking for a council employee."

'The town park is not staffed at the weekends' said a by-stander.

Three councillors and a Police Community Support Officer were all in the park at the time and they sprang into action.

As councillors Nick Dombkowski and Paul Macdonald carefully checked the bottom of the pool (pictured) for remaining shards of glass the PCSO went to the park keepers house after a brief discussion about he best way forward.

Cllr. Jamie Cullen was then on the scene to ask parents of toddlers to make sure that their children were wearing something on their feet and stay away from the area that was of concern.

"Dad. 'There's a jam jar over there", said a youngster to the amusment of Paul. Paul looked up and saw a police car at the entrance to the town park.

"Guess you are from London then!" joked Paul. "Smile!. This is the most excitement we have had for weeks."

The paddling pool was quickly drained of water to make sure the efforts of the local councillors was double checked.

The scene also saw the arrival of a 'no-parking cone' and a reflective cone to warn the public as the water disappeared.

"I am assured by Andy who runs the popular refreshment kiosk that this is a very rare event during the day although he publicly spirited goes arounfd the local area when he opens picking up bottles around that end of the park," added Cllr. Paul Macdonald.